Petronas starts work in Cuba

HAVANA, June 7 (UPI) -- A Malaysian energy company said it picked up where Repsol left off with drilling for oil off the northern coast of Cuba.

The U.S. Energy Department estimates there may be around 1 billion barrels of oil reserves off the coast of Cuba. Spanish energy company Repsol, however, last month said it was abandoning efforts despite spending around $100 million on an exploration campaign.

Citing Cuban reports, Bloomberg News states that Malaysian energy company Petronas began drilling off the Cuban coast using the same Scarebeo-9 rig employed by Repsol.

Cuba produces half of the oil it needs to meet overall energy demand. It relies on imports that it gets at a subsidized rate from the Venezuelan government for the rest. The country aims to cut the amount of oil it imports from Venezuela through development of offshore reserves.

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